Record European champion Timo Boll and Olympic bronze medalist Dimitrij Ovtcharov are in the quarterfinals of the $1 million table tennis final tournament in Xinxiang, China.
At the meeting of the 16 professionals of the year with the best points, Boll defeated the world ranking twelfth Lin Gaoyuan from China with 3:2 sets, Ovtcharov also prevailed in five sets against the Taiwanese Chuang Chih-Yuan.
Ovtcharov meets world champion Fan Zhendong (China) on Friday, Boll has to deal with world ranking fifth Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan) in the so-called WTT Cup Finals.
European champion Dang Qiu, the world number 13, was eliminated in the round of sixteen. Patrick Franziska, Europe Top 16 winner Ying Han and European Championship runner-up Nina Mittelham.
The WTT Cup Finals of the new World Table Tennis tournament series have replaced the traditional year-end Grand Finals in table tennis. The top 16 players in the two world rankings are eligible to start.